Moving to a Profile per Install Architecture

With Firefox 67 you’ll be able to run different Firefox installs side by side by default.

Supporting profiles per installation is a feature that has been requested by pre-release users for a long time now and we’re pleased to announce that starting with Firefox 67 users will be able to run different installs of Firefox side by side without needing to manage profiles.

What are profiles?

Firefox saves information such as bookmarks, passwords and user preferences in a set of files called your profile. This profile is stored in a location separate from the Firefox program files.

What changes are we making to profiles in Firefox 67?

Previously, all Firefox versions shared a single profile by default. With Firefox 67, Firefox will begin using a dedicated profile for each Firefox version (including Nightly, Beta, Developer Edition, and ESR). This will make Firefox more stable when switching between versions on the same computer and will also allow you to run different Firefox installations at the same time:

You have not lost any personal data or customizations. Any previous profile data is saved and associated with the first Firefox installation that was opened after this change.

Starting with Firefox 67, Firefox installations will now have separate profiles. This will apply to Nightly 67 initially and then to all versions of release 67 and above as the change makes it way to Developer Edition, Beta, Firefox, and ESR.

What are my options?

If you do nothing, your profile data will be different on each version of Firefox.

If you would like the information you save to Firefox to be the same on all versions, you can use a Firefox Account to keep them in sync.

Sync is the easiest way to make your profiles consistent on all of your versions of Firefox. You also get additional benefits like sending tabs and secure password storage. Get started with Sync here.

You will not lose any personal data or customizations. Any previous profile data is safe and attached to the first Firefox installation that was opened after this change.

Users of only one Firefox install or users of multiple Firefox installs who already had set different profiles for different installations will not notice the change

We really hope that this change will make it simpler for Firefox users to start running Nightly. If you come across a bug or have any suggestions we really welcome your input through our support channels.

What if I already use separate profiles for my different Firefox installations?

Users who already have created manually separate profile for different installations will not notice the change (this has been the advised procedure on Nightly for a while).

23 comments on “Moving to a Profile per Install Architecture”

Actually I have Firefox updated release and contemporary Firefox Developer Edition installed on my system and each one already has each profile (it was by default just from first time, I did not explicitly set different profiles for both of them) and each one, when updated to its own new version continue to use previous profile.

So this behaviour will continue?

Actually I have release 64 installed, let’s suppose that it could be directly the final 67 one, when 68 will become the final release, it will create another profile on my system, and then it will re-happen when future 69 will become available?

Or maybe, since 67 it will be possible to have installed contemporary different versions such as 67, 68, 69, and so on?

Firefox Developer Edition has had its own separate profile for a while now. This change is about adding that feature to the other channels of Firefox like Nightly. If all you have is Firefox Release and Firefox Developer Edition then you should see no change as this feature rolls out.

This is really good move. Although there are ways to create individual profiles for each category of firefox, making it default really helps many. Currently Firefox Developer creates its own profile along with other category of firefox. I am using Firefox nightly and Firefox Developer edition with FDE being my default browser. This new process will make way to install Firefox Beta also which I can make my default browser then. Thanks.

Well, I am not sure but :
I use a Firefox in my Linux box (.deb) with 4 profiles :
– Normal
– a profile for “Exploitation and documentation” which is sync’ed
– a profile for personal usage (sync’ed too)
– a profile for personal usage shared with my wife (sync’ed too)
For WebDev I now use a Firefox Dev Edition:
– Profile WebDev (add-ons)

It sounds like you are using the first 4 profiles with the same install of Firefox. Presumably you are using command line arguments or the profile manager to select between them. You will see no change with that approach when this lands. And developer edition already used a separate profile by default, that will continue. So there is probably nothing you need to do to maintain the status quo.

I just came across this. Why was the old way of syncing between profiles skipped? I do not like the idea of having to rely on a server, which is most of the time – because of working in a firewalled environment – not available. Is there no other way to sync the profiles between different Firefox versions? If not, I guess, that will be the end of working with Firefox Nightly.

I use only Nightly. I was a bit horrified to launch it today after an update and be presented with an empty browser profile and a page telling me that the only way to get my profile data back was to sign up for a web service provided by Mozilla. Do you guys really not understand how bad that looks? The data is right there sitting in my profile folder.

You can just run firefox with the –profilemanager command line flag, select the default profile rather than default-nightly and ensure “always start with this profile without asking” is checked. Back to normal, no Firefox account needed. (Note, this might be a bad idea if you use other Firefoxes alongside Nightly.)

I just updated my Firefox beta and it created a new profile. I was able to “import” my settings and extensions using Firefox Sync, but my open tabs (which are set to sync) and cookies were not imported.
How can I import my open tabs and cookies from the previous profile?

Also, I think the “Important News: Changes to your Firefox profile” page that opened when I launched Firefox should have a link to this page to give users more context about the change.

If you still have all of your previous profile data, in the user, appdata, roaming route you can copy your old sessionsore file (or from the backups folder within the same place, but with renaming) into the new profile.

I am just started exploring the profiles, but i am exited about this feature:

Will we be able to run two ff instances at the same time?
I mean if i would have a “for work” instance, and a “for fun”, but the same version of the main branch, and one is already running, would i be able to open the other one to work in it, while the other running too?
If yes, and e.g. a program wants to open a link, by pressing a button (so no option to copy the link to the clipboard) how could we select wich open it? (Sometimes when i am in private mode, i accidently click to links in other programs, what opens the main browser session… that is frustrating eventually)